Saddam's half-brother captured by coalition troops: 'Kurdish TV'

Saddam's half-brother captured by coalition troops: 'Kurdish TV'

Agence France-Presse, Arbil, Iraq/Washington

Coalition forces on Sunday captured Saddam Hussein's half-brother Watban as he attempted to cross the border into Syria, Kurdish TV said.

"Watban Ibrahim Hasan, Saddam's half-brother who served as interior minister and in other sensitive positions, was captured today by coalition forces in Rabia," northwest of Mosul, said KTV, which is run by the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) of Massoud Barzani.

Another half-brother, Barzan al-Takriti, was killed last Friday morning in U.S. bombing of his farm, in the region of Ramadi, west of Baghdad, a family friend told AFP.

In Washington, meanwhile, the commander of U.S. operations in Iraq said on Sunday that U.S. authorities have samples of Saddam's DNA.

If the Iraqi dictator is still alive, he is under pressure, Gen. Tommy Franks told CNN in an interview.

"He's either dead or running a lot," Franks said. When asked what his own belief was, he answered: "My boss doesn't permit me to have hunches."

"He'll simply be alive until I can confirm he's dead," Franks said.

"Of course, of course," Franks replied when asked if the United States had samples of Saddam's DNA. Franks did not state how the sample had been obtained.

He said U.S. experts were intent on taking samples to check if Saddam or his family members were among the Iraqi dead.

"The appropriate people with the appropriate forensics are doing the appropriate checks," Franks said.

Franks said he believed it would be possible to identify Saddam, "unless remains were removed" at the site of recent heavy bombings in a residential area where Saddam and his top officials were believed to be.

Separately, U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld ruled out on Sunday a future comeback in Iraq by either Saddam or his followers, saying "that regime is history, forever."

Rumsfeld was asked in an interview with NBC how important it was to account for Saddam's fate to dispel fears that he or his followers were biding their time, plotting a return to power.

"We know he's not running that country. He was and he isn't. So that's an enormous accomplishment," he said.

"That regime is history for ever," he said, adding, "That's such a long time."